As I mentioned in my previous post, I will be giving away some of the products I received during the Loyalty Card Launch. These are the products I have already tried and liked, and I would like to share this with you. One winner will receive the following products.

That’s a total of 8 full-sized products and 4 sample-sized products from all Celeteque product lines except Maternity, with a total value of Php1695 excluding the samples. Joining is easy! Just click the rafflecopter contest link below. (Sorry it’s not showing up on this page as I’m still on free wordpress hosting.)

Rules:

Contest runs from today until July 20 midnight. I will be announcing the winner on this blog as well as on the Becoming Sleek facebook and twitter pages once I evaluate the entries. Readers 18 years old and above are allowed to join. I will ship the prize to the winner. Philippine addresses only! Check back daily, some of the entries can be done everyday.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I joined Celeteque’s Dermo Skin Circle. It’s basically a group of avid Celeteque users that Celeteque has collected through an online promotion (the one I joined by purchasing some products and submitting proof of purchase) or through invitation by their SAs. I’ve received an invitation to an event and only later did I discover that it is because Celeteque is launching a loyalty card.

It was held in Cafe 1771 at Ortigas. As it was a payday friday, I decided to go early to avoid traffic. True enough, I was the first one to arrive at the venue. This is how the empty room looked like. It was such an elegant looking place.

Eventually the other members of the Dermo Skin Circle arrived, and dinner began. Let me show you a quick peak of what I ate. The food is excellent! The dessert is even better!

I met new friends! Fellow Celeteque enthusiasts Sharon and Ana were actually the next two who arrived, and sat near me.

The program began after dinner, led by Assistant Brand Manager Zie. She explained the details of the loyalty card.

After the program, there were some prizes given out. I was awarded one of them for being the first to arrive! (early bird) I received this mysterious white bag which was pretty heavy.

Each person also received a silver pouch with some of Celeteque’s products in it, as well as a token from the venue as shown below. It had cream puffs in it! Yum!

At this point I met the lovely Tellie of Beauty by Tellie. We were able to chat with each other, and also with some of the other ladies from Celeteque and their guests.

When I arrived home I checked out the contents of my prize. (Actually I already checked it out at the venue, but I wasn’t able to take a picture.) Here’s what greeted me.

My jaw dropped open! The bag is packed to the brim with what looks like all the current Celeteque products released! I suddenly have everything I wanted to try from Celeteque, and more! Watch out for a series of reviews on these soon. I already reviewed the Hydration trinity (cleanser, toner, moisturizer) with a bonus of the Ultralifting serum, and the Hydration makeup remover wipes.

I’ll be holding my first giveaway soon! I’ll be giving away some of these products so stay tuned!

As an extension of Lesson #2, I decided to do a mani with more lines. For this I used Dazzle Dry Heart of Fire as base and White Lightning for the stripes.

First I used two coats of Heart of Fire as base. Using my detailing brush I painted three lines using White Lightning on the accent nail. I had to do each line twice to make it more solid.

I’m starting to think that using nail polish to make non-dot designs is not really viable. Either that or my brush isn’t that good. I find that I need to go over the lines more than once to make it opaque enough, and that leads to these really thick lines. I will not be able to make other kinds of art like drawings if the lines will be this thick. I’m considering using acrylic paint, following what Rina does. We shall see!

One of the best items I received in the BDJ Elite Box is the Revlon Ultimate Suede Lipstick. The shade I got is 045 Supermodel, which is mostly an MLBB shade for me. It’s a dark wine shade with a hint of purple.

As it is suede, it ends in a matte layer. I applied a thin layer of lip balm before putting on this lipstick. Here is how it looks like.

My lips are naturally pigmented, but this lipstick enhances the color even more. Supermodel is also quite a professional shade, and is safe to be worn to school or office. It’s not very long lasting though; I got about 2-3 hours wear on this. This costs Php575 and is available from Revlon counters (most drugstores, department stores, and supermarkets have them).

Pardon the delay but I was finally able to find the time to review this item which I got last April. Maybelline Baby Skin Pore Eraser is a primer designed to make pores appear smaller. One is supposed to put this on before BB creams or foundations, and should make the face a smooth canvas for makeup application. I got this at Watsons Greenbelt 1 for Php399 (22ml).

When dispensed, it comes out as a clear gel-like stream.

One is supposed to apply this specifically on the parts of the face with obvious pores. On me, that’s on the nose and cheeks mainly. Here’s my cleansed face, nothing applied yet.

And a close up on my nose and cheek pores.

I applied a generous amount of Baby Skin Pore Eraser on my nose and cheeks. It goes on silky and settles into the pores as a smooth blanket.

It may not be very clear, but the pores appear blurred. Most notably the small pores near my nose are almost invisible. Unfortunately this product can’t really perform well on the larger pores, which is maybe not something it is designed to do. However, it does deliver on making a smooth canvas, and made it much easier to put on my favorite BB creams.

Definitely I would repurchase this. It is quite a good cheaper alternative to the much-vaunted Benefit Porefessional. It’s also gentle and doesn’t irritate my sensitive skin.

BDJ released their first Elite BDJ Box (Summer Indulgence) about a couple of months ago. I didn’t sign up for it because I couldn’t afford it at the time. Fortunately, Martha (The Beauty Junkee) hosted a contest in instagram with an Elite box for a prize, and I won it!

Even if there are already lots of unboxing posts of it, I’m still going to post mine as well as my thoughts on each item.

Warning: Photo-intensive post ahead!

The box is much bigger than the regular BDJ box, but it still has the distinctive BDJ logo and design.

That premium box feeling extends when you open it. Instead of the stiff paper sleeve you get a pink cloth sleeve. And instead of the standard welcome card, you get a pack of product cards that describe each item in detail.

Very elegant looking cards.

This is what you see upon opening the box. Lots of interesting items going on here! Let’s go left to right.

First up we see a familiar item. This is the 100ml version of Celeteque Advanced Anti-Aging Anti-Wrinkle Ultra-Hydrating Cleansing Oil (whew!). As you well know I am a huge fan of Celeteque, so I am very glad to get this. According to its card it costs Php599, but on Celeteque’s website it costs only Php369.

Next we come to a pair of Davines hair products. This is the Nounou Shampoo which is made for color-treated hair. Unfortunately I don’t have colored hair, so I might not be able to use this. Or, maybe this means I should go out and have it colored! This item is a 75ml sample, which costs Php306.30 (full size 250ml, Php1020).

And we also get the matching Nounou Conditioner, still for color-treated hair. It’s again 75ml, Php325.83 cost (full size is 250ml, Php1085).

For the first time, I am not displeased on getting a perfume sample. This one is Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy La Fleur. Check out that bottle! It looks pretty fancy, and the scent is very pleasant as well. This is a 5ml sample, which costs Php186.67 (full size 150ml, Php5600). Its corresponding product card carries a voucher that allows one to get a free Juicy Couture goody bag with Php4000 worth of items when purchasing 100ml/150ml of any JC fragrance at Rustan’s Makati. Unfortunately it only had 1 month validity and has expired last June 1.

This next one is a sample tube of Ahava Essential Day Moisturizer. I have heard a lot of good things about Ahava, and I am looking forward to trying this out. There were some Ahava samples released by Sample Room but I wasn’t able to catch any of it, so it’s great that BDJ has one in the elite box. This is a 15ml sample, which costs Php448.95 (full size 50ml, Php1495).

This one is the most controversial item in the box, as I’ve read in other blogs that this expires soon. This is ISkin New York Daily Sunshield SPF25. Of course I lost no time trying this out and used this as my main sunshield for a few days. Unfortunately my sensitive skin reacted to it and made my face itchy and red. I’ll give this to my mom as she has a more robust skin. This is a full sized tube of 57g, and costs Php2900.

This one is a full sized tube of Neutrogena Ultra-Sheer Dry-Touch Sunblock SPF50. According to its product card this can be used for both the face and body. Too bad as we’re firmly into the rainy season these days, but I will definitely keep this for my next outings. This 88ml tube costs Php509.25.

I’m quite happy that there is one makeup item in here, and it happens to be a lipstick! I got Revlon ColorStay Ultimate Suede Lipstick in 045 Supermodel. I am so pumped up about this! I’ve been seeing posters of Olivia Wilde wearing them and I wanted to try them out. Supermodel is a deep mauve shade. This lipstick costs Php575.

Lastly we get a SureSlim voucher, which we saw before. It’s basically the same thing except this time it’s only Php1500 off.

My impressions of the BDJ Elite Box Summer Indulgence: On the overall this is a very sulit box, with a pretty varied range of brands. In particular I love getting the Revlon lipstick, the Ahava moisturizer, and the JC fragrance. It’s just that the Davines hair products are not for my hair type, which is the secondary reason why I didn’t buy this box.

Value review: For some reason the printed costs on the card for the sample sized items were mostly incorrect, if basing the sample’s cost on the full sized item’s price. The sample prices I put here are the ones I calculated, not the ones on the product cards. The total value of the items are Php5046, which is more than twice the cost of the subscription (Php1950). Unfortunately, almost half that cost is in only one item (ISkin sunblock). The ones I was really interested in costs a total of only Php1210.62, which wouldn’t have justified the subscription price.

I’m quite lucky to have own this box, and got to try these items for free. Thank you so much, Martha!

This is my second nail “art” using the new batch of Dazzle Dry polishes I bought. This time I used Strawberry Macaron as base and Heart of Fire for the line.

I used this BK Nail System striping brush. I bought this again from Landmark, Trinoma for about Php69. It is my first time handling this tool and it was difficult making a straight line. This is my left hand and you can already see that it’s not that straight. My right hand is worse! But! The only way to get better at this is to practice, and I would like to share with you my journey.

It’s that time of the month! BDJ Box time! The month of June is the month where we explore The Science of Beauty. Yes, this is the theme of the month, and I find it quite intriguing. Let’s check out this box!

Warning: Photo-intensive post ahead. [You can click on each image to make it larger.]

This month’s theme (The Science of Beauty) basically concentrates on the key ingredients that target specific problems or issues. They claim that it took hours of research to develop these products. Here are two welcome cards included in the box. One is the standard welcome card that discusses the theme, while the second one concentrates on a brand I’ve never heard before: Kinerase. We’ll discuss that further on in the post.

This is how the box looked like upon opening. As you can see it’s pretty packed with products, although you might notice that the majority of it is the black-and-pink L’Oreal products.

The first three products are the three products in L’Oreal Paris’ new line: Fall Repair 3x. This line, as the name suggests, specifically targets and addresses hair fall through the use of Arginine. I would have been totally thrilled in getting these, if I hadn’t just bought the whole line recently (check out my latest haul post). The shampoo and conditioner are the 90ml small size ones (Full size 200ml, Php110 and Php119), which costs Php49.55 and Php53.60 respectively. The Leave-In Tonic is full sized, which costs Php259.

The next one is a full sized tube of Physiogel Intensive Cream (50ml). It is a moisturizer that claims to have a Derma Membrane Structure Technology, something that will work towards hydrating the skin. It can be both for the face and for targeting dry areas of the body like elbows and knees. Unfortunately, this already came out in a previous box, my first one: November BDJ Box. And to be honest I haven’t actually tried it yet. Maybe this time I’ll set aside a period to test this out. This 50ml tube costs Php574.50.

Next we have two makeup items, which made me really happy! The first one is a lipstick. Woo! It’s Avon Vitaluscious Lipstick in 400 Reviving Red. It looks like a pretty red lippie, and this would be my second red one (the first is from Flormar). I have big expectations of this lippie due to Liz’s review. This costs Php299.

The second item is an eyeliner but it doesn’t stop there. It’s a dual-ended eyeliner from Revlon! Talk about sulit! This one is called Revlon Photoready Kajal in Blue Nile. This eyeliner is an intense eyeliner (the blue end) and brightener (the white end) in one! I love that I got a blue shade. I like bold colors and I expect that I will love this one. This costs Php525.

One of the features of this month’s box is the introduction of the brand Kinerase. It specifically introduces the plant-based antioxidant Kinetin, which aims to improve the overall health of the skin. A more in-depth discussion can be found in the included booklet (below). Note the monthly inspirational sticker. “You are stronger than you seem; more beautiful than y ou think.”

Two Kinerase product samples are included in my box. These are the Gentle Daily Cleanser (5ml) and the C6 Peptide Intensive Treatment (5ml). The first is obviously meant to cleanse the face, while the second one sounds more like a serum to be applied after cleansing and toning. I am eager to try these out. These cost approximately Php70 and Php500 respectively (Full size: Cleanser 200ml, Php2800; Peptide 50ml, Php5000).

My impressions of the June BDJBox: On the overall I am not displeased by this box. It just so happened that I just purchased the three hair products before this and I do feel that the box made it a bit redundant. On the other hand I am quite pleased to receive the two makeup items, as well as the chance to try out the new skincare brand. I’d rate this month as good, but not great.

Value review: The total value of this box is Php2330.65, which is again way more than the subscription cost. [Note: The monthly subscription cost for BDJ Box is now Php580.] The only thing I don’t like about that is Php500 of this box value is in only 5ml of product (Kinerase Peptide Treatment). However, I really do like receiving the lipstick and the eyeliner.